Speakers

Longtime Downtown Rotarian Brent Abbott will be our guest speaker. He will give us an update on our neighbour here on Kingsway Avenue, the Alberta Aviation Museum.

The Royal Canadian Air Force built the aircraft hangar that houses the museum during the Second World War for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. It is the only double-long, double-wide hangar of its type left. The BCATP gathered men and women from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to train pilots, navigators, and other aircrew to support the Allied war effort.

The Alberta Aviation Museum Association incorporated in 1980 as a group of aviation and history enthusiasts and occupied temporary facilities at the Edmonton Municipal Airport through the 1980s.  In 1990 the Association partnered with a diverse group of other like-minded aviation groups, under the leadership of the Edmonton Aviation Heritage Society, who approached the City of Edmonton about leasing the Hangar on Kingsway.

The tireless efforts of the Edmonton Aviation Heritage Society’s volunteers paid off, and they cleaned up the old hangar and moved into their permanent home in 1991.

Over the years, thousands of dedicated volunteers have worked on an iconic collection of more than 30 aircraft, including many ground-up restorations.

With the closure of the airport, the museum moved into a new phase, becoming the historic cornerstone of the new Blatchford community. In 2019, the Society signed a new 25-year lease with the City of Edmonton,  and are embarking on a major revitalization to better tell Edmonton’s exciting flying history to a whole new generation.